But who cares. No one was much asking for their money back at Dodger Stadium on Saturday night, even those who, upon arrival, realized the boards completely blocked their view of the puck.

"We can't see a thing," Kings fan Ron Becker said.

That's what big screens are for, after all. Besides, this was more spectacle than a sporting event. Like a wedding where the ceremony was second to the reception.

I've seen playoff games in L.A., but nothing quite as electric as this. The fans stood even during warmups: "Go Kings Go!" and all that. Ducks fans were outnumbered but not out-beered. That's an important stat in hockey.

From a fan's standpoint, August's soccer game might've been a more complete experience, for fans were closer to the action and you could always see the ball. Dodger Stadium is simply too big a venue for hockey, but once in a while ...

And once in a while came Saturday night.

Ever have those moments of stupendous disbelief, where you can't quite believe what you're seeing? Me neither, but I had once of those Saturday at Cirque du Chavez.

This is what you would get if Barry Manilow were appointed NHL commissioner. It was like one spectacle ate another spectacle. Were he still police chief, Daryl Gates would've shut the whole thing down for excessive noise. Bugsy Siegel would've bottled this night and sold it in speakeasies.

In the Land of La-La, this was one for the ages.

"We drove all the way from Phoenix," Kevin Heyninck said in the top deck. "We don't care who wins, we just love hockey."

Yep, the NHL threw the best curveball in Dodgers history with this crazy stunt. Like watching a surfing Santa, you couldn't help but smile. A fish out of ice water.

Another revelation, or maybe a confirmation: Hockey fans are really the best in all of sports.

And Saturday they faced some pretty whacked-out pricing. Reserve level seats were going for $250; top deck for $150 and field level for $50. It was like some sort of seat-pricing inversion.

The reason: those high up could see into the rink, while those down low, if really close, could not even see the puck.

How far the NHL will take all this? By the simple act of going where it all started — outdoors — hockey has been reinvented, reborn. There's already talk of moving the All-Star games outdoors, and I'd like to see the Stanley Cup finals outside as well.

The whole outdoor thing has gone viral.

Hockey outdoors seems so novel, but that's where it all started. In its crudest forms, it can be traced to Egypt 4,000 years ago, and to Aztecs in Mexico before Columbus even bought a boat.

Even L.A. hockey history holds a few surprises. L.A. Weekly noted last week that the first Southern California hockey game goes clear back to 1917.

At the time, Times columnist Warde Fowler reported: "No one was killed outright."